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IN    REFERENCE    TO    THE 


SEABOARD  AND  ROANOKE  RAILROAD, 


BOSTON. 

PRINTED  BY    BEALS  &  GREENE. 
1847. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://www.archive.org/details/statementinreferOOseab 


SEABOARD  AND  ROANOKE  RAILROAD. 


The  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke  Railroad,  now  to  be  called  the  Seaboard 
and  Roanoke  Railroad,  is  about  seventy-seven  miles  in  length,  extending 
from  Portsmouth,  Virginia,  (opposite  Norfolk,)  to  Weldon,  North  Caro- 
lina, and  its  original  cost,  according  to  the  Treasurer's  report  made  to 
the  board  of  public  works  of  Virginia,  Oct.  30,  1841,  was  $1,224,408  69. 

At  Weldon  it  intersects  the  "  Wilmington  and  Raleigh  Railroad,"  ex- 
tending thence  to  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  a  distance  of  about  one 
hundred  and  eighty  miles.  At  the  same  point  it  also  intersects  the  Peters- 
burg Railroad,  running  from  Weldon  to  Petersburg,  and  thence  with  the 
Richmond  and  Fredericksburg  roads,  to  the  Potomac  river. 

The  legislature  of  North  Carolina,  at  its  last  session,  granted  a  charter 
for  the  purpose  of  reviving  the  western  end  of  the  Portsmouth  and  Roan- 
oke Railroad  within  the  limits  of  that  state,  under  the  name  of  the  Roan- 
oke Railroad  Company,  and  authorizing  the  new  company  to  extend  their 
road  to  intersect  the  "Raleigh  and  Gaston  Railroad  "  at  Gaston,  which 
will  require  some  thirteen  miles  extension  over  a  favorable  country,  at  an 
estimated  cost  often  thousand  dollars  per  mile.  When  this  junction  shall 
have  been  effected,  the  Seaboard  and  Roanoke  Railroad  and  the  Roanoke 
Railroad  which  embrace  the  road  from  Portsmouth  to  Gaston,  and  which 
is  intended  to  be,  in  fact,  one  company,  (and  in  form,  so  soon  as  the  char- 
ters can  be  legally  united,)  will  command,  in  a  great  measure,  the  two 
great  lines,  the  upper  and  the  loner  lines  of  southern  travel,  and  cannot 
Cm],  from  its  very  superior  natural  advantages,  with  its  termination  at  one 


of  the  best  and  most  central  seaports  of  the  Union  to  control  the  trade, 
not  only  of  the  Wilmington  and  Raleigh,  and  Raleigh  and  Gaston  roads, 
with  the  contemplated  extension  of  the  latter  road  to  Camden,  South  Caro- 
lina, but  of  the  extensive  and  fertile  valley  of  the  Roanoke,  extending  far 
into  Virginia;  in  fact  commanding  at  Weldon  the  whole  business  which 
centres  there  from  the  upper  country,  and  from  some  four  hundred  and 
thirty  miles  of  railway  now  in  active  operation,  which  have  cost  for 
their  construction,  in  the  aggregate,  about  five  millions  of  dollars. 

The  superstructure  of  the  Seaboard  and  Roanoke  Railroad  is  defective, 
and  the  estimates  hereinafter  given  comprise  the  cost  of  a  new  superstruc- 
ture for  the  whole  road  to  Weldon,  with  its  extension  to  Gaston,  to  be 
laid  with  the  T  rail  of  the  best  pattern  of  fifty  pounds  to  the  yard;  the 
requisite  turnouts,  depot  houses,  water  stations,  woodsheds,  new  locomo- 
tives, passenger,  freight  and  gravel  cars,  fcc,  &C  to  do  with  dispatch  all 
the  business  which  may  be  brought  upon  the  road. 

These  estimates  are  made  by  T.  J.  Carter,  an  engineer  of  sound  judg- 
ment, of  practical  experience,  and  of  high  reputation  in  his  profession, 
after  a  careful  personal  examination  of  the  route,  and  upon  mature  calcu- 
lations, and  it  is  not  doubted,  that  they  will  cover  the  actual  cost. 

The  rebuilding  and  equiping  of  the  road  to  Weldon  may  be  completed 
in  season  for  the  spring  travel  and  business,  and  its  extension  to  Gaston, 
in  a  short  time  later;  and  this  can  be  done,  it  is  believed  without  serious 
interruption  to  the  present  business  of  the  road,  which  amounts  to  nearly 
forty  thousand  dollars  per  annum,  on  that  portion  of  the  road  now  in 

operation. 

The  charter  of  the  Seaboard  and  Roanoke  Railroad  granted  by  the  state 
of  Virginia,  at  its  last  session,  embracing  the  road  to  the  North  Carolina 
line,  authorizes  a  capital  of  six  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  Roanoke 
Railroad  charter  granted  by  North  Carolina,  embracing  the  road  from  the 
Virginia  line  to  Weldon,  with  the  right  of  extending  it  to  Gaston,  allows 
a  capital  of  four  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

Authority  to  unite  legally  the  two  corporations  into  one,  can  doubtless 
be  obtained  by  future  legislation,  as  the   work   is  one  looked  upon  with 

great  favor  by  both  states. 

All  the  rights,  franchises,  depots,  buildings,  a  valuable  wharf  at  Ports- 
mouth, with  a  large  brick  frcight-ho^se,  the  machine  .hop,  with  a  ?<**? 


5 

steam  engine  for  working  the  same,  the  present  equipment  of  the  road, 
including  six  locomotives,  (four  in  good  running  order,)  several  passenger 
and  freight  cars,  together  with  all  the  other  lands  and  property  of  the  cor- 
porations from  Portsmouth  to  Weldon,  including  the  large  brick  merchan- 
dize depot  at  the  latter  place,  and  embracing  the  costly  bridge  with  stone 
piers  over  the  Roanoke  river  at  Weldon,  can  be  secured  to  the  new  com- 
pany, now  proposed  to  be  formed  under  the  charters  of  the  Seaboard  and 
Roanoke,  and  Roanoke  Railroad  companies  before  mentioned,  for  the  sum 
of  $200,000,  and  which  is  embraced  in  the  report  and  estimates  of  Mr 
Carter,  of  the  cost  of  rebuilding  and  extending  the  road. 


MR.   CARTER'S   REPORT. 


Boston,  June  15,  1847. 

Hon.  David  Henshaw  and  William  Ward,  Esq. 

Gentlemen — In  accordance  with  your  request,  I  have  made  an  ex- 
amination of  the  condition  of  the  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke  Railroad, 
and  herewith  submit  the  results  with  an  estimate  of  the  cost  of  rebuilding 
the  road  in  a  permanent  manner,  and  furnishing  the  road  for  operation. 

The  road  now  constructed  commences  at  Portsmouth,  opposite  Norfolk, 
Virginia,  thence  passing  through  Norfolk,  Nansemond,  Isle  of  Wight  and 
Southampton  counties  in  Virginia,  thence   to  Weldon  in  North  Carolina. 

The  most  important  villages  on'this  line  ol  road  are  Suffolk,  Carsville, 
Franklin,  and  Newsomes,  Virginia ;  Margarettsville,  Garysburgh  and 
Weldon,  North  Carolina. 

The  general  character  of  the  country  is  very  feasible  for  the  construc- 
tion and  operation  of  a  railroad  at  a  reasonable  expense.  The  road  is 
favorably  located,  with  long  straight  lines,  and  very  little  curvature,  of 
large  radius  with  easy  gradients,  which  renders  it  capable  of  transporting 
large  freights, and  at  high  rates  of  speed,  at  comparatively  light  expense. 

The  present  road  was  commenced  in  1832,  completed  for  operation  to 
Suffolk  in  1834;  the  superstructure  laid  from  there  to  Garysburgh,  1834 
and  1835,  and  in  operation  to  that  place  in  1836,  and  the  whole  finished  to 
Weldon  for  operation  in  1837.  The  features  of  the  country  not  requiring 
extensive  excavations  or  embankments  the  grading  of  the  road  bed  is  very 
light;  yet  at  some  points  on  the  line  over  low  lands  and  small  streams, 


there  was  constructed  some  trestle  bridges  of  a  cheap  and  perishable  na- 
ture to  save  cost  of  embankment,  which  will  require  rebuilding  or  exten- 
sive repairs. 

The  necessary  bridging  over  the  rivers  is  quite  limited,  consisting  of  a 
lattice  and  truss  superstructure  upon  woodpiers  and  abutments,  excepting 
the  Roanoke  bridge,  which  is  upon  stone  piers  and  abutments  of  a  good 
quality  of  masonry.  The  other  principal  streams  crossed  are  a  branch 
of  the  Nansemond,  Blackwater,Nottaway  and  Meherrin  rivers,  which  re- 
quire truss  bridges. 

In  the  following  estimate  is  included  the  rebuilding  of  some  of  those 
bridges,  and  permanent  repairs  of  others,  and  at  several  points,  in  cases 
where  material  of  a  quality  easy  to  be  removed  is  at  hand,for  an  embank- 
ment in  place  of  the  present  wood  bridging,  excepting  only  a  space  suffi- 
cient for  the  flow  of  the  streams. 

There  are  some  cuts  on  the  line  which  require  widening  and  ditching, 
and  the  material  excavated  may  be  deposited  in  the  embankments  when 
wanted,  at  small  extra  expense,  and  thereby  make  the  road  more  perma- 
nent and  less  expensive  to  be  kept  in  repair  after  rebuilding. 

The  present  superstructure,  upon  twenty-five  miles  of  the  road,  consists 
of  rails  seven  by  five  inches,  upon  oak,  chinquepin  and  cyprus  sills,  eight 
feet  long,  from  ten  to  fourteen  inches  in  diameter,  hewn  on  the  under  side, 
placed  four  feet  apart.  The  iron  on  this  portion  is  the  flat  bar  five-eights 
by  two  and  a  quarter  inches;  upon  the  remainder  of  the  road  the  super- 
structure is  similar,  excepting  the  iron,  which  is  one-half  by  two-inches. 

From  the  length  of  time  used,  quality  of  materials  and  mode  of  repairs, 
it  is  now  much  decayed,  and  the  iron  much  broken.  The  trains  make 
their  regular  trips  at  present  to  the  fifty-four  mile   post  from  Portsmouth. 

1  have  calculated  in  the  estimate  for  removing  the  present  track,  pre- 
paring the  road  for  a  new  superstructure  with  sleepers  seven  feet  long, 
six  inches  thick,  hewn  on  two  sides  of  six  inches  face,  to  be  placed  two 
and  one-half  feet  apart,  with  iron  rails  of  the  improved  H  pattern,  fifty 
pounds  per  yard,  with  chairs  at  the  joints,  spiked  to  the  sleepers.  For 
convenience  I  have  made  four  divisions  of  the  road  in  the  following  esti- 
mate, the  first  three  being  in  Virginia,  and  the  fourth  in  North  Carolina, 
;ts  follows  : — 


Estimate  of  Cost  J  or  Repairing  the  lioad. 

1st  division — From  Portsmouth  to  Suffolk,  17\S0  miles. 

Excavation,  widening  and  ditching,  -           $400 

Repairs  on  landing  bridge,          -  2,200 

"         "  small  bridges,           -  400 

Road  crossings,  12,  at  $8,           -  96 


$3,096 


2d  division — From  Suffolk  to  Nottaway  river,  24'23  miles. 

Excavation  and  embankment,  12,000  yds  at  12c,  $1,440 

Repairs  on  Blackwater  bridge,  -        -         1,800 

«         "    Nottaway  "  1,200 

"         "   small  bridges,  -  900 

Road  crossings,  27,  at  $8,        -  -  216 


$5,556 


Sd  division — From  Nottaway  to  Meherrin  river,19*60  miles. 

Excavation  and  embankment, 64, 200"yds  at  12c,  $7,904 

Repairs  of  Meherrin  bridge,        -  2,400 

"         "  small  bridges,  -  600 

Road  crossings,  22,  at  $8,  -        -        -  176 


$11,080 


4th  division — From  Meherrin  to  Welden,  17*68   miles. 

Excavation  and  embankment,16,400yds  at  15c,  $2,460 

Repairs  on  Roanoke  bridge,         -  4,500 

"         "  Petersburgh  R.  R.  bridge,  -  350 

"         u  small  bridge,       ...        -       1,600 

Road  crossings,  17,  at  $8,    -  136 


$9,046 


Recapitulation. 

1st  division — From  Portsmouth  to  Suffolk,  $3,096 

2d        "             "       Suffolk  to  Nottaway,  5,556 

3d         "            "       Nottaway  to  Meherrin,  11,080 

4th       "             «       Meherrin  to  Weldon,  9,046 


$2S,1 


Estimate  of  One  Mile  of  Superstructure. 

Iron  rails,  H  pattern,  50  lbs.  per  yd,    78  4-7 

tons,  at  $70,  -  $5,500 

Chairs  for  joints  of  rails,  528  at  50  cts.,       -  264 

Spikes,  3700  lbs.,  at  5  cts.   -  185 

Sleepers,  oak  and  chinquepin,  2112,  at  25  cts.  528 

Laying  superstructure,        -  240 

Transportation  and  distribution  of  materials,  158 


$6,875 


Cost  of  Furnishing  Road. 

4  locomotives,  at  $6,500,     -  $26,000 

4  passenger  cars,  at  $1,800,        -  7,200 

30  eight  wheeled  freight  cars,  covered,  at  $500,  15,000 

SO       «          «           «           «  platform,  at  $300,  9,000 

20  gravel  cars,      at  $250,     -  5,000 

8  hand       «       and    tools,  at  $100,      -        -  800 


$63,000 


8 


Summary. 

Repairs  of  road  and  bridging,               -  $28,778 

Superstructure,  77  mile*,  at  $£6,875,    -  529,375 

Equipment  of  road,              -  63,000 

Turnouts,  switches  and  fixtures,         -  8,500 

Turntables,        -----  3,600 

Depots,  lands,  buildings,  including  repairs,  20,000 

Interest  account  during  construction,  25,000 

Engineeing,  incidental  and  contingencies,  5,000 

Cost  of  road, 200,000 


$883,253 
Deduct  for  old  iron  now  laid,    -  20,000 

$863,253 

I  have  also  examined  the  route  for  the  proposed  Roanoke  Railroad  from 
Weldon  to  Gaston;  connecting  the  Portsmouth  and  Roanoke,  and  Gaston 
and  Raleigh  Railroads, and  also  the  Wilmington  and  Roanoke,and  Peters- 
burgh  Railroads. 

The  country  presents  a  remarkably  feasible  line  for  a  railroad,  it  being 
very  smooth  and  level,  and  no  streams  of  much  magnitude,  which  will 
render  the  cost  of  construction  very  small.  It  maybe  located  with  a  large 
portion  of  straight  line  and  easy  grades.  Having  only  made  a  reconnoi- 
sance,  without  the  aid  of  instrumental  surveys  and  profiles,  I  think  that  a 
good  road  may  be  built,  with  a  superstructure  similar  to  that  proposed  in 
the  foregoing  estimate,  at  a  cost  from  $  10,000  to  $12,000  per  mile.  The 
distance  will  be  from  twelve  to  fourteen  miles,  depending  upon  the  point 
of  intersection  with  the  Raleigh  and  Gaston  Railroad. 

Respectfully  submitted  by  your  servant, 

T.   J.   CARTER,  Civil  Engineer. 


9 

Total  estimated  cost  of  the  road  rclaid  from  Portsmouth  to  Weldon,  and 
extended  to  Gaston,  and  with  the  superstructure  and  equipments  as  before 
detailed,  say         ________         $1,000,000  00. 

Estimated  Business  of  the  Road. 

PASSENGERS. 

Estimated    passengers    between    Gaston    and   Portsmouth, 
10  daily,  at  $3,50, $35  00 

Do.  do.  between  Weldon  and  Portsmouth,  includ- 
ing all-way  travel,  and  calling  the  whole  equal  to 
SO  through  passengers,  each  way,  is  60,  at  $3,  180  00 

This  estimate  gives  for  12  months,  at.  (daily)  $215  00— $78,475  00 

FREIGHT. 

Estimated  as  follows  : 

One  million  staves,            -----  $7,000 

500,000  bush,  corn,  at  6c, 30,000 

6000  bales  cotton,  at  83 Jc,       -  5,000 

3000  tons  manufactured  tobacco,  at  $3,        -        -  9,000 

5000  bbls  flour,  at  30c, 1,500 

Pine  cordwood  and  ship-timber,          -  15,000 

Naval  stores,    -        - 2,500 

Upfreight,  3500  tons,    ------  10,500 

80,500  00 

158,975  00 
Local  mail, -  8,000  00 

Total  receipts,        -        -        -        $166,975  00 


The  estimated  permanent  expenses  of  the  road  are  as  follows,  viz.  : 

4  overseers  for  road  repairs  to  Weldon,  at  $1  per  day  ea.,  $1,460  00 
16    common  hands  for  do,  $10  per  month,  say    -         -        -       1,920  00 

1  president  and  general  superintendent,  -  2,000  00 

1  treasurer,      ---------  800  00 

1  clerk  of  the  corporation,  ------      500  00 

5  depot  agents  at  Weldon  and  Portsmouth,      _        -        -       1,800  00 
8  other  do.  along  the  line,  say    ------    2,000  00 

34  10,560  00 

In  Workshops. 

4  finishers,  at  $1  50  per  day  -        -     $6  00 
3  blacksmiths,  at  $1  50,  -        -        -  4  50 

5  helpers,  at  50c.          -        -  -  1  50 
8  carpenters,  at  $1  25,     -  -        -      -  10  00 

2  laborers,  at  75c,  1  50 

3  yard  hands,  at  50c,       -  1  50 

23      haiids— for  313  days'  work  yearly,         $25  00  per  day,  is    7,825  00 
57  hands.  Carried  forward,      -----      $18,385  00 


10 


57    hands  brought  from  the  preceding  page.         ...      $18,885  00 

Train  Expenses. 
For  each  train,  viz.  : 

1  engineer, $1  75 

2  train  hands,  at  75c,       -         -        -         -     1   50 
1  train  conductor,  -         -         -        -         112 

4  —         1|  cords  wood  per  trip,  say      -         -     1   75 
Oil,      ------  45 

Say  2  passenger  trains  and  2  freight    

equal  to  4  trains  daily,  for  365  days,  #6  57  per  trip,  is     9,582  20 
Add  for  contingencies,     ------        2,032  80 


61  hands— total  yearly  expenses,  estimated  at  -        -         $30,000  00 


TOTAL    RECAPITULATION. 

Total  yearly  estimated  receipts,        -  #166,975  00 

Total  yearly        do  expenses,  as  above, $30,000 

Add  to  the  above  estimate,  to  cover  all  pos- 
sible contingencies,    -  7,500 
Interest  on  the  capital,      -                                 60,000 

97,500  00 


Surplus,  (equal  to  a  13  per  cent,  stock,)  $69,475  00 
The  business  here  estimated  is  only  for  that  which  it  is  believed  [will 
come  upon  the  road  under  the  existing  state   of  the  roads  beyond,  and 
without  reference  to  their  improvement  or  extension. 

Should  the  Wilmington  road,  and  the  Raleigh  and  Gaston  roads  be  re- 
built with  a  heavy  rail  so  as  to  enable  them  to  carry  passengers  with 
greater  speed,  and  transport  freight  with  more  certainty  than  at  present, 
their  business,  and  consequently  the  business  of  the  Seaboard  and  Roan- 
oke road,  which  will  be  the  trunk  road,  will  be  greatly  increased;  and 
these  improvements  must  be  made  within  comparatively  a  short  period. 
Should  these  roads  be  extended  to  unite  with  the  South  Carolina  roads  so 
as  to  command  the  whole  of  the  southern  travel,  as  is  now  contemplated, 
they  must,  we  think,  more  than  double  the  business  here  estimated,  which 
would  come  over  the  Seaboard  and  Roanoke  Railroad.  A  charter  is  grant- 
ed, and  a  company  already  organized,  for  extending  the  road  from  Wil- 
mington to  intersect  the  Charleston  and  Augusta  (Georgia)  Railroad  at 
some  convenient  point,  and  it  is  the  general  belief  in  Carolina  that  it  will  be 
speedily  completed.  Preliminary  measures  are  in  active  progress  for  ex- 
tending the  upper  line  from  Raleigh  to  Camden,  South  Carolina,  in 
which  the  Georgia  roads,  and  the  Raleigh  and   Gaston  road,  as  well  as 


11 

the  citizens  along  the  line  are  taking  an  active  interest.  The  route  is 
represented  as  extremely  favorable,  and  the  whole  line  may  be  built  with 
a  T  rail  superstructure  and  fully  equipped  for  an  expense,  as  is  esti- 
mated, of  not  exceeding  ten  thousand  dollars  per  mile. 

Mr.  Hollister,  the  President  of  the  Raleigh  and  Gaston  Railroad  Com- 
pany, a  native  of  the  north,  but  long  resident  in  Raleigh,  practically  ac- 
quainted with  the  topography  and  business  of  the  country,  and  connected 
with  the  Raleigh  and  Gaston  Railroad  from  its  commencement,  estimates 
the  business  of  this  route,  when  it  shall  have  been  carried  through,  as  above 
indicated,  as  follows,  viz:  One  hundred  thousand  passengers  yearly, 
(about  one  hundred  and  fifty  passengers  each  way,  daily,)  at  three  cents 
per  mile,  $3,000.  Mail  pay,  $237  50  per  mile.  Freight,  #500  per  mile, 
making  #3,737  50  income  per  mile  per  year.  The  estimated  expenses 
for  this  large  amount  of  business  is  #1,250  per  mile  per  annum,  leaving 
#2,487  50  per  mile  profit,  on  an  expenditure  of  #10,000  cost  of  the  road 
per  mile,  or  a  profit  of  nearly  twenty-five  per  cent.  This  is  for  the 
upper  line  alone.  There  must  always  be  an  extensive  business  on  the 
lower  line  from  Weldon  to  Wilmington,  which  at  present  is  the  main 
route. 

The  Seaboard  and  Roanoke  Railroad  is  so  situate  that  it  must  always 
command  a  very  large  share  of  the  business  coming  over  both  these 
routes.  Their  fast  trains  can  run  from  Gaston  to  Portsmouth  in  three 
hours  and  a  half,  and  from  Weldon  to  Portsmouth  in  three  hours.  From 
Portsmouth  to  Baltimore,  steamboats  can  ply  up  the  great  estuary  of  the 
Chesapeake,  a  safe  and  pleasant  route,  well  land-locked,  and  which  has 
never  yet  experienced  a  steamboat  disaster,  in  twelve  hours.  After  so 
long  a  travel  by  railroad  as  that  from  Montgomery,  Alabama,  to  Ports- 
mouth, it  would  be  a  great  relief  to  travellers  to  take  a  steamboat  upon 
safe  waters,  and  this  consideration  alone,  independent  of  its  being  a  cheap- 
er and  quicker  route,  will  always  enable  that  line  to  command  the  busi- 
ness. 

The  estimated  expense  of  running  the  trains,  doing  the  business  and  keep- 
ing the  road  in  repair,  will  appear  small  to  those  conversant  only  with 
northern  roads  ;  but  it  will  be  recollected  that  the  rail-tracks  in  the  south- 
ern country    are  never  damaged  by  frost,   and  the  road  is  seldom  injuri- 


ously  affected  by  water,  and  the  line  being  generally  straight,  the  rails  are 
not  deranged  by  the  lateral  pressure  of  the  wheels,  as  upon  curved  roads; 
that  the  generally  level  nature  of  the  country,  and  the  directness  of  the 
line,  enables  the  train  to  work  with  little  expenditure  of  fuel,  and  that 
wood  there  costs  but  about  one-fifth  the  price  of  the  article  at  the  north. 
The  number  of  road  repairers  deemed  sufficient  for  the  purpose,  and  their 
expense,  are  estimated  by  gentlemen  who  have  been  long  connected  with 
working  the  road;  and  the  same  is  the  case  in  relation  to  the  estimated 
yearly  cost  in  the  work-shops,  and  in  running  the  trains.  To  these  esti- 
mates have  been  added,  for  '  contingencies, '  the  sum  of  about  $9,700  per 
annum;  and  no  deduction  has  been  made  for  the  new  work  in  construct- 
ing cars,  in  the  work-shops  which  will  be  performed,  and  which,  it  is 
believed,  will  amount  to  several  thousand  dollars  per  annum.  Great  con- 
fidence may  therefore  be  entertained  that  the  estimated  expenses  will 
fully  cover  the  actual  outlays. 

In  estimating  the  freight  over  the  road,  except  the  '  up  business,'  we 
have  taken  but  some  half  dozen  of  the  leading  articles,  and  these  are  es- 
timated below  the  amounts  given  by  gentlemen  of  intelligence  along  the 
line  of  the  road,  as  to  the  probable  business  of  the  road  in  these  articles 
alone,  and  does  not  embrace,  as  a  down  freight,  that  general  miscellane- 
ous traffic  which  a  railroad  never  fails  to  create.  It  should  be  borne  in 
mind  also  that  the  rates  at  which  both  passengers  and  freight  are  comput- 
ed in  this  estimate,  are  some  twenty-five  per  cent,  less  than  the  charges 
heretofore  made  on  .this,  and  now  usually  made  on  other  southern  rail- 
roads. As  a  further  illustration  of  the  business  capacity  of  this  road,  we 
annex  a  table,  compiled  from  the  census  returns  of  1840,  showing  the 
population  and  some  of  the  leading  articles  of  production  of  portions  of 
Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  whose  trade  and  business  may,  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent,  be  attracted  to  this  road. 


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COMPILATION— Coktu  ited. 


Counties. 

~> 

Tobacco. 

Population. 

M 

o 

a 

5".   I> 

£° 

o 
"a 
l> 

Mecklenburg, 
Brunswick, 
Halifax,        • 
Pittsylvania, 
Harvey,        . 

-  4,121,131,  - 
2,140,813  - 
6,209,511      - 

•  6,438,777  - 
1,623,500  - 
Total,    20,536,732 

20,724    - 
14,346    - 
25,936    . 
26,398    • 
7,335    - 
Total,  94,739 

These  estimates,  as  has  been  before  remarked,  are  predicated  upon  the 
actual  existing  business  and  wants  of  the  community  within  the  reach  and 
influence  of  the  road,  and  without  reference  to  the  extension  of  lines  con- 
nected with  it,  or  the  future  increase  of  business.  Every  person  con- 
versant with  the  operation  of  railroads  at  the  north,  is  well  aware  that 
an  improvement  of  this  nature  is  constantly  increasing  old  business  and 
creating  new  sources  of  income.  This  road  will  not,  it  is  believed,  be  an 
exception  to  that  rule,  and  therefore  it  is  unnecessary  to  enlarge  upon  this 
point. 

A  map  showing  the  nature  of  the  route,  and  its  connection  with  other 
routes,  is  appended. 

Subscriptions  will  be  received  for  twelve  thousand  shares,  the  capital 
authorized  by  the  charters;  the  first  installment  payable  on  the  first  day 
of  September,  of  twenty-five  per  cent,  and  the  balance  in  subsequent 
installments  as  the  wants  of  the  Company  may  require  in  the  progress 
of  the  work.  The  estimated  cost  of  the  road  being  but  one  million  of 
dollars,  the  assessments,  it  is  calculated,  will  not  exceed  eighty -three  and 
one-third  dollars  per  share;  the  parties  subscribing  will  have  the  privi- 
lege of  paying  up  to  this  sum,  at  the  period  of  the  first  call,  if  they 
desire  it;  interest  upon  all  installments  from  the  time  of  payment,  at  the 
rate  of  six  per  cent,  per  annum,  payable  semi-annually,  will  be  paid  to 
the  stockholders  while  the  road  is  in  progress  of  reconstruction,  for 
which  purpose  a  sum  is  appropriated  in  the  estimates  of  cost  of  con- 
struction; after  the  road  is  in  operation  the  dividends  will  be  derived 
from  income  alone. 

These  investigations  have  been  performed  in  what  the  undersigned 
consider  to  be  a  complete  and   satisfactory  manner,  ami  they  now  submit 


15 

a  statement  of   the  facts,    for  the  correctness   of   all  which,   they  feel 
warranted  in  vouching. 

This  statement  is  printed  not  for  general  promulgation,  but  exclusively 
for  the  information  of  those  to  whom  it  may  be  addressed,  and  who  may 
desire  to  embark  in  the  enterprise,  which  offers,  it  is  believed,  a  favora- 
ble opportunity  for  a  safe  and  lucrative  investment. 

DAVID  HENSHAW, 
WILLIAM  WARD. 

Boston,  June  24,  1847. 


Microfilmed      _.. 
SOLINET/ASERL  PROJECT 


